in 2008, then president elect obama met with john mccain at the obama campaign chicago's headquarters. vice president al gore and george w. bush had a private meeting after gore officially conceded the election. and president clinton gave the defeated bob dole a presidential medal of freedom just days before the second clinton inauguration. other rivals weren't as conciliatory. herbert hoover and franklin d. roosevelt reportedly sat in silence to the inauguration. walter mondale told politico he and ronald reagan never sat down for this kind of conversation. and is a former aide to john kerry told politico that kerry and george w. bush never spoke to one another after john kerry conceded the election. joining me now, pulitzer prize winning columnist for "the washington post" and msnbc analyst eugene erickson. and we have all -- i won't speak for you. i have -- i have more than once, i think, said we will keep in touch, let's keep in touch, to someone i did not then keep in touch with. i don't think i've ever been as phony about it, though, as these two guys today promising to stay in